Improvement in sewing-machines



, J. D. WRIGHT.

$eWing-Machine.

Patented Feb. 25,1879.

775277/2 awed;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB D. WRIGHT, OF IVOROESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,581, dated February25, 1879; application filed October 12, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB D. YVRIGHT, of WVorcester, in the county of\Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Sewing-Ma chines; and I declare the following tobe a description of my said invention sufficiently full, clear, andexact to enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1represents a front view of a portion of a sewing-machine, showing avertical section of the balance-wheel mechanism c011- structed inaccordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same. Fig. 3is an end view with the disk removed, showing the ratchet devices; andFigs. 4 and 5 are sectional views, showing the details of constructionof the pawlandratchet devices.

This invention relates to certain improve ments in mechanism foroperating and controlling the action of the shaft in a sewingmaehine andeonsistsin the combination, with the shaft and balance-wheel or pulley,of a hand disk and a paWLand-ratchet mechanism constructed and arrangedfor operation as hereinafter described.

In the drawings,A denotes the goose-neck B, the operating-shaft, and Othe needle-bar, which parts, together with those not herein shown anddescribed, may be of the ordinary construction.

D indicates the balance and pulley wheel, with rim D and band-groove DSaid wheel D is mounted to turn loosely on the shaft 13, and is lockedto said shaft, when rotated in one direction, by a ratchet devicesuitably arranged for that purpose. In the present instance said ratchetis arranged upon the shaft-extension B at the outer end of thebalance-wheel hub, and consists of a ring or sleeve, E, having teeth ornotches on its inner surface, which engage with the ends alternately ofa pawl-pin, I, working loosely through a transverse opening in the shaftor its extension-piece B, as indicated in the drawings, saidratchet-andpawl mechanism operating substantially similar to thatdescribed in my Letters Patent No. 203,519, dated May 7,1878. A pin orlug, K,

. projects from the end of the wheel-hub into a notch or opening in theside of the ringE, and causes said ring to rotate with the wheel D whenthe latter is operated by the drivin g-belt.

L indicates a disk or plate-wheel, arranged upon, and rigidly securedto, the shaft B, (or its extended end piece, B with its periphery orouter rim, L, adjacent to the rim D of the balance-wheel D, or curvedover the side of such rim D or hearing such relation thereto that bothor either can be grasped or pressed by the hand of the operator with anatural and convenient movement of the hand placed on the wheel-rim inthe usual manner.

The operator, by grasping the wheel-rim and disk-rim, has as perfectcontrol of the machine as with a rigidly-attached balance-wheel, whilederiving all the benefits of a loose-running wheel for winding bobbinsand for similar purposes, and this, too, without the trouble ofadjusting locking devices or clamps for holding and releasing the wheel.

The operating parts of the machine can be run only in one direction, orforward, by the treadle mechanism and belt, the ratchet permitting thepawl to pass without actuating the shaft when the wheel moves in abackward direction.

The disk L may be cast or struck up from sheet metal, and may bemodified to adapt it to the different kinds of sewing-machines in use;and it may be applied to old machines as well as new without departingfrom the spirit of my invention. The present instance illustrates theinvention as adapted for use on. the Singer and similarly-constructedmachines; but in some sewing-machines the disk or rim L would berequired to be placed at the opposite side of the wheel, and the sizeand shape of said disk somewhat modified, in order to presentits rim insuitable manner to be grasped at the same time as the balance-wheel. Theratchet device can also be arranged at either end of the wheel-hub, asrequired, or be formed in the hub, as preferred.

In applying my invention to sewing-machines now in use, the shaft B canbe extended to the required length by means of the extension-piece orstud B screwedinto the end of the shaft in the manner shown, thepawl-pin I being arranged through said stud B and the sewing-machines,and I do not herein make disk L secured toits end; but in newmachinesthe shaft B may be formed of sufficient length to obviate the necessityof the piece B the disk and ratchet being placed directly on the end ofthe shaft B.

It will be observed that this mechanism is simple and inexpensive, andcan be applied to sewing-machines now in use at but slight cost, andWithout material change in the original parts of the machine.

I am aware that balance-wheels formed in two portions-one fast upon theshaft and the other running loose thereon, with clutching mechanism-haveheretofore been used on claim, broadly, to such features.

What I claim as my invention, and desire.

to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, the shaft B,balance-wheel D, loose upon said shaft, the disk L, rigidly secured tosaid shaft, the ratchet-ring E, pin K, and pawl I, for the purposes setforth.

2. In combination Withthe shaft B and balance or pulley wheel in asewing-machine, the extension-stud B, the ratchet-ring E, the pawlpin 1,and locking-pin K, as and for the purposes set forth.

Witness my hand this 8th day of October, A. D. 1878.

JACOB D. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

OHAs. H. BURLEIGH, F. A. HUMPHREY.

